


but friends don't know the way you taste

by thatsformetoknow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Mutual Pining, all that good shit, bed sharing, cookie flirting, cookie shenanigans, fake dating au, lance is a dumb bitch who doesnt realise hes in love, oblivious lance, the whole shebang u know how it goes, yes u heard me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:02:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22370716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsformetoknow/pseuds/thatsformetoknow
Summary: So yes, it had seemed like a great idea. Take Shiro down to see his family, pretty much act the same as they usually do, just maybe hold hands a bit, and then periodically bring him up from time to time until eventually telling them that they had broken up, but it wasn’t messy or complicated, they were just meant to be friends after all, and they were still very close, just not romantically. Easy. Easy easy easy.No. Wrong.Sonot easy.
Relationships: Lance/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 138





	but friends don't know the way you taste

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PunkInPinkGlitter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkInPinkGlitter/gifts).



Going into things, Lance had thought this was a great idea. It seemed like a great idea. It had come about as an accident, in all actuality. Lance had been on the phone with his family, and his brother had been teasing him about another year having passed without Lance having a girlfriend. He’d snapped, it had been instinctual to defend himself, to bicker back, and he’d snapped that he _was_ actually seeing someone. His mother had exclaimed that he simply _must_ bring them home, and Lance decided then and there that he was screwed.

He should have just told them then. He should have just told them the truth - Lance was still as lonely and single as he had been last year, and there was absolutely _no_ development in that department whatsoever. But when Lance’s mother asked him what their name was… Lance panicked further and blurted out the first name that came into his mind. Shiro. Why had he damned himself? 

“Oh, yes, you two always did have very good chemistry,” his mother had mused. “I had a feeling there was a little something between you.”

Well, if _that_ didn’t make Lance’s chest flutter. Except then she reminded him that he was coming home for the weekend the following week, and to bring Shiro along with him - they’d all just love to meet him as the official boyfriend. Lance had told them that he’d see if Shiro was free, otherwise it would have to be another time. 

Lance wasn’t entirely sure where to go from there. Why couldn’t he have said some random name? Then he at least could have postponed the visit for a viable amount of time until they inevitably “broke up”, and there would be no problem. Of course, he could just tell them the truth, but Lance really didn’t want to suffer the embarrassment.

The first point of conduct was to phone Shiro, tell him what he’d done, and then they could laugh about it for a bit and Shiro would give him a pep talk for telling his family that he’d lied to them, and he’d suffer a bit of embarrassment, but in the long run he would feel better off in the long run, knowing he’d done the right thing, and they’d all laugh about it in years to come. 

Except that wasn’t what Shiro said at all. 

“We can manage for a weekend, right?” he asked, instead. 

“What?” Lance squeaked. 

“It was your idea,” Shiro reminded him. “I don’t mind, if you want to keep your family happy for a bit. We can just say in a few months that we figured we were better off friends, after all.”

“Well…” Lance said thoughtfully. “That does sound like a viable excuse, actually.”

“Next weekend, yes?” Shiro asked, and they confirmed the details after that. 

So yes, it had seemed like a great idea. Take Shiro down to see his family, pretty much act the same as they usually do, just maybe hold hands a bit, and then periodically bring him up from time to time until eventually telling them that they had broken up, but it wasn’t messy or complicated, they were just meant to be friends after all, and they were still very close, just not romantically. Easy. Easy easy easy.

No. Wrong. _So_ not easy. Shiro was… Well, Shiro was one of Lance’s best friends and so it wasn’t that pretending to be in love with him was challenging or anything, because of course, Lance loved Shiro as much as he loved Hunk or Pidge, so that wasn’t the issue. It was just… Lance didn’t have the words to describe it, really, but whatever it was, it was doing things to his stomach and he didn’t like it. 

They hadn’t even been here long now, long enough to have gotten the hellos out of the way, and have retold the story of how they got together that they’d previously decided on on the way up, and things were going smoothly. Currently, they were sitting on the couch watching a movie with everyone, and Lance was snuggled against Shiro’s side, and Shiro had his arm around Lance. Their hands were laced together resting over them and Lance Shiro was absently tracing his thumb over Lance’s skin. He was really good at this whole pretending thing. Marco and his mother were in the kitchen making dinner, and Veronica and his father were sitting on the other couch watching the movie with them. 

Luis and Rachel weren’t here, but it was rare these days that everyone was able to get together for anything other than Christmas. Still, they tried to come home every so often, and of course, Marco and Veronica had wanted to be here to meet Lance’s new boyfriend. Of course. Veronica kept side-eyeing them from the other couch, but Shiro wasn’t paying attention at all, seeming perfectly content with how he was holding Lance against him. Lance would be perfectly content too if it wasn’t for the way his heart was hammering in his chest. Was he really this worked up about lying to everyone? 

It was at that moment that Shiro leaned in, lips brushing close to Lance’s ear and Lance felt his heart stop in his chest. 

“Chill,” he murmured. “I think Veronica’s getting suspicious.”

Oh god, she was suspicious already? They’d been here what, a few hours? How was Lance going to survive the entire weekend? Two more entire nights and days? She was going to see through them for sure. 

“Sorry,” Lance murmured back, wincing. “I don’t know why I’m so jumpy.”

“It’s okay,” Shiro said, giving him a soft squeeze and kissing his cheek. 

Lance felt his cheeks burn and he tucked his face into Shiro’s neck, hoping that Shiro couldn’t feel how hard and fast his heart was beating. What the hell was up with him? He must have been really stressed out about his family finding out. 

Dinner went smoothly for the most part, and they fell into easy conversation, Shiro recalling different funny stories from college, only changing very minor details, and Lance felt a little more comfortable being the butt of the jokes; something he was used to in his family, and didn’t mind in the least, laughing along with them, kicking at his siblings playfully under the table until he accidentally kicked Shiro, and thus began a half footsie half kicking war until Veronica rolled her eyes at them. 

“Gross, get a room,” she teased and Lance rolled his eyes back. 

“I have one, not my fault you’re sitting in it,” he shot back, kicking her for good measure and flushing as Shiro nudged him with his foot again. 

Lance felt himself relax more as the evening wore on and they finished up dinner, Lance helping clean up in the kitchen. 

“You two seem really happy,” his mother said softly and Lance smiled despite himself. 

“We are,” he said almost shyly. “I just hope it lasts.”

“I have a good feeling that it will,” she said, leaning up to kiss his forehead. “You hold onto him, you hear me?”

“I will, mama,” he promised, and she shooed him out of the kitchen. 

Shiro was just coming out of the shower as Lance came upstairs to bed and whatever he had been about to say died in his throat as he opened his mouth and closed it again. He ushered Shiro into his room and closed the door, averting his eyes. 

“Um, my bed isn’t that big,” he said, looking over at it, and then back at Shiro, who had little water droplets running down his chest. 

“It’s alright,” Shiro said. “I’m sure we can fit.”

“Yeah,” Lance said distractedly, wetting his lip. “I’m um, going to shower too,” he said, darting out of the room and across the hallway, closing the bathroom door quickly behind him, heart hammering in his chest. 

He took his time in the shower, enjoying the moment of relaxation, before finally going back to bed, finding Shiro sitting up and reading. 

“What are you reading?” he asked, changing quickly into some pyjamas and clambering in next to him. 

“Uh…” Shiro said thoughtfully. “I’m not entirely sure, yet,” he said and Lance laughed.

They chatted for a bit, but when they laid down to sleep Lance felt the awkwardness creep back into the air. Why was this so awkward? Was Shiro feeling this, too? They laid in silence for what felt like forever, before Shiro finally turned over, back to Lance, and Lance let out a breath, feeling himself relax a little. He was feeling so emotionally exhausted from this trip already that it took hardly any time at all for Lance to fall into a deep sleep. 

He was very warm and comfortable when he woke up, covers pulled up around him, firmly nestled against Shiro’s back. Wait… nicely nestled against Shiro’s back? Lance’s eyes flew open and his heart sped up as he realised that in the night he had somehow moved to spoon Shiro, and Shiro had his arm firmly squished under his own and pulled against his chest. Putting aside the initial panic, he was actually very comfortable like this, and didn’t feel very inclined to move, but on the other hand, he was _spooning Shiro_.

It seemed like the longest time before Shiro even stirred, and Lance felt like he was holding his breath for the entirety of it, but _finally_ he shifted, yawning as he woke up, clearly going through the same process as Lance had as he realised the situation that they were in and tried to decipher if Lance was awake or not. He carefully slipped Lance’s arm free from where he’d trapped it and Lance took that as his cue to pull away, cheeks flaming. 

“Morning,” Shiro said, voice rough with sleep, and Lance pulled further away, averting his eyes. Did Shiro always sound like that in the mornings?

“Morning,” Lance breathed back, taking the opportunity to get out of bed and get some clothes out of his suitcase, before scarpering from the room without giving Shiro another look. He shut himself in the bathroom and let out a long breath, splashing his face with water. 

He could handle this. He could totally handle this. There was no logical reason as to why he was getting so flustered about this - Shiro was his friend, they could absolutely do this. Come to think of it, Shiro didn’t seem to be having as much of an issue as Lance was, and if anything, seemed to look at Lance with amusement every time his cheeks would flame. What was wrong with him? Why was he being affected like this? It made no sense at all. 

After getting ready he went back to his bedroom, finding Shiro already gone and heading downstairs, figuring that he must have already gone into one of the other bathrooms. 

“Oh, Lance, there you are,” his mother said as he went into the kitchen. “I need you and Shiro to make a start on these cookies, okay? We’re taking them to the town bake sale later, but I need to run out and pick up a few bits.”

“Okay,” Lance said, looking to where she’d gotten the ingredients out already. “No problemo.”

She thanked him and rushed off, and Lance started measuring them out while he waited for Shiro to come down. 

Lance jumped when he felt an arm slide around his waist a little while later, lips pressing against his cheek with a, “hey baby,” murmured against him. 

“Hi,” Lance said, turning to look at him with a shy smile, noticing that Veronica had also come into the room, which would explain - that. 

“Mama said she wants us to start on the cookies while she’s out. Think we can handle it?” he asked teasingly. 

“Cookies? Please, I’m a cookie professional,” Shiro said with a flirtatious grin. 

As it turned out, Shiro was _not_ a cookie professional. One ruined batch and a complete mess of the kitchen later… they’d finally managed to get a further two batches into the oven that Lance had made sure to take charge of. Shiro was… covered. He was absolutely covered in flour and cookie mix, it even smeared on his face and in his hair, and his hair was all sticking up on end from where he’d accidentally run his sticky fingers through it in an attempt to get it out of his face. It was out of his face alright. He looked adorable, if Lance was being honest. 

Lance was too busy being wrapped up in his dear-god-Shiro-is-adorable thoughts to comprehend what Shiro was doing when he advanced towards him and pulled him in close. Lance squeaked as he pulled their bodies together and leant in to brush their lips together. Lance found himself chasing Shiro’s lips when he pulled away, brain short circuiting a little, and not much getting past the thought of “that felt nice, please do that again”. And so Shiro did, he kissed him again, and Lance kissed him back, letting Shiro take charge of the kiss, deepening it a little, and teasing Lance, not quite dipping his tongue into his mouth, but nipping at his lips and swiping it out over them in a way that had Lance lightheaded. It was all Lance could do to open his mouth in invitation, breathing out a quiet embarrassing moan as Shiro finally slipped his tongue between Lance’s teeth, licking into his mouth. 

Lance was vaguely aware of a sound in the background, though he was far too preoccupied to register what it was, much more interested in the way Shiro’s lips felt against his own, and trying to kiss him back with as much fevor as Shiro was kissing him with. He squeaked and pulled back in shock to glare at his sister as she smacked his ass as she past him to switch the oven off, giving him a knowing look as she laughed. 

“Shut up,” Lance grumbed, huffing. 

“Aw, little bro, you look like you could cum from a kiss like that,” she teased and Lance’s mouth fell open. 

“Fuck off!” He whined, folding his arms over his chest. 

Shiro chuckled and wrapped his arm around Lance’s waist, pulling him against him. “Don’t pout, baby, you look too cute.”

“Yeah, damn right I do,” Lance huffed, cheeks red as he pointedly looked away from both of them. “How are the cookies?”

“Juuuust right,” Veronica said as she got them out of the oven. “But any longer in there and you would’ve had to start all over again, so just as well I was here to save the day, even if I did have to witness that disgusting show.”

Lance made a soft whining sound of embarrassment, sticking his tongue out petulantly at her, to which she returned, and then sauntered out of the room. 

“Sorry,” Shiro said softly, looking a little flushed himself. “She uh, keeps giving us these funny looks, and she was right there. I should’ve cleared it with you first thought.”

“It’s fine,” Lance said quickly. “I mean uh, we’re dating so… kissing is probably something we should be comfortable doing.”

“Yeah,” Shiro said, looking down.

“You uh, have my permission to do that again, whenever uh, you need to,” Lance said, biting his lip. 

Shiro looked back at him with a slightly amused smile. “Good to know.” 

Lance somehow managed to get through the rest of the day, stumbling over himself a little and flushing with embarrassment every time he thought of what had happened in the kitchen, but all things considered, things were going pretty well. Shiro held his hand as they walked around the bake sale, putting on a show for his parents and smearing cake icing on Lance’s nose and then kissing it off like a disgustingly adorable man in love. 

Lance was practically in his lap after dinner that evening when they all sat down to watch a movie, and Lance was acutely aware of Shiro’s arm around his waist, and his thumb rubbing little circles into his skin where his shirt had ridden up a little. Everything was good, and this was very believable; they were doing a good job of pretending to be in love. 

They then went up to bed feeling light and carefree, easily talking together as they got ready for bed and got into it, switching the lamp off and laying together. It wasn’t awkward like it had been the day before, and Lance’s skin wasn’t searing with every touch from Shiro’s, it was easy and it was comfortable. 

The conversation had died down, and Shiro’s skin was pressed against his own and he could practically feel Shiro’s breath on his face from how close he was. Lance was sure there must have been a few seconds in there somewhere where a decision was made, but if there was, Lance was unaware of it, because then Shiro was kissing him. Shiro was kissing him and Lance was kissing him back, deep and heated and fast, just like in the kitchen earlier and it was a mess of tongue and teeth, and Lance’s brain could barely catch up with what was going on, just soley focused on the feeling of it, and trying to explore every inch of Shiro’s mouth with his tongue. They were both panting, and Shiro was swallowing each of Lance’s breathless little whines, and Lance just about died on the spot as Shiro breathed a groan, low and deep and _needy_ , and _fuck_.

Then Shiro was on top of him, and Lance’s had one hand tangled in his hair, one hand clutching at his back, fingertips pressing into the fabric of his shirt, hips rocking up instinctively, seeking any sort of friction. Shiro groaned again, shoving a thigh between Lance’s legs and _jesus fuck_ he was hard, and then Lance could feel Shiro against his thigh, hot and heavy through his pants, and he _wanted_ , god he _wanted_. 

Lance finally managed to muster up the will power to turn his face away and break the kiss before this went too far, and they both lay there panting for a few moments. Neither of them moved for a very long few seconds before Shiro dislodged his leg from between Lance’s and rolled off of him onto the bed beside him. 

“Sorry,” Shiro breathed. 

“Don’t say sorry,” Lance said back. “It’s… good to practice.”

“Yeah,” Shiro said, rolling over to face away from Lance. “Good to practice.”

Lance didn’t move for another few moments, letting out a long breath. There was that awkwardness again. In all honesty, Lance… wasn’t entirely sure what had happened there. He was still hard and he was pretty sure that Shiro still was, too, but… why? Why had that happened? Why had it gone so far? Lance wasn’t complaining - Shiro was clearly a very good kisser as he’d been able to take Lance apart so easily both times, but that didn’t mean that Lance understood it. Earlier it had been for Veronica, was this time really for practice? Lance forgot all about everything when Shiro was kissing him, let alone thinking about ‘practicing’. 

“Shiro…” Lance started, but he didn’t really know where he was going with it. 

“Night, Lance,” Shiro said softly but firmly and Lance closed his mouth. 

Neither of them spoke again, but Lance could tell that they were both awake for a very long time before either of them fell asleep. 

Morning wasn’t too awful and neither of them acknowledged the night before, Shiro giving him a smile as he got up and went for a shower and Lance stayed in his room to tidy up his things and pack his bag. They’d have to leave just after lunch to make their flight and get back home on time and be able to get a good nights sleep for class tomorrow. 

When they were both downstairs for breakfast, Shiro acted normal in front of Lance’s family, but when they were alone he was more quiet and subdued than Lance had known him to be before. Was this because of last night? Because of him?

They had a busy morning, though, so Lance didn’t get much of a chance to dwell on it, just enjoying the feel of Shiro’s hand in his own, and knowing that these were the last few hours he would get of this. He wrapped his arm around Shiro’s waist when Shiro failed to, pulling Shiro against his side and leaning up to kiss his cheek. He didn’t want things to be awkward between them, he just wanted them to stay like this - like they had been the day before. 

Eventually after long drawn out goodbyes they found themselves on the plane home, and Shiro immediately put a movie on, putting his headphones in. Lance didn’t know what to do, so settled for putting his own on, and ignoring Shiro right back. He didn’t know what he’d _done_ or what had happened to get Shiro like this, but he didn’t like it. 

This continued right up until they were back at Lance’s place, Shiro helping him with his bags to the door. 

“Do you want to come in?” Lance asked softly, though he already knew the answer. 

“I’d better get home,” Shiro said, shaking his head. 

“Shiro-” Lance said, and then stopped. What could he say? “Shiro, I’m sorry,” he eventually settled for, though he wasn’t entirely sure what he was apologising for. 

“No, I’m sorry,” Shiro said with a heavy sigh, running a hand through his hair. “I never should’ve agreed to this.”

“I know,” Lance said quickly. “It was stupid, and I was an idiot, and I shouldn’t have lied, and I shouldn’t have said it was you, and I didn’t give you a choice, and it was probably awful for you, and I’m so sorry, I never should have even told you about it, I should’ve told them straight away, but I didn’t, and I made you pretend to be in love with me and-” 

“You don’t get it, do you?” Shiro asked and Lance blinked at him. “I don’t _have_ to pretend,” he said almost desperately. 

“You- what?” Lance asked. 

“You’re so fucking stupid, Lance,” he said almost affectionately. “I never had to pretend, none of it was me pretending.”

“You- you love me?” he asked and Shiro gave a small nod. 

“I do,” he said. 

Lance opened his mouth and then closed it again, words failing him. He- Shiro was in love with him? Shiro? One of his best friends, Shiro, _that_ Shiro. Shiro that was absolutely out of his league Shiro. Shiro that had kissed him like he was dying for it and practically been plastered to him the whole weekend and _hadn’t been pretending_ Shiro. That Shiro. This Shiro, right here, standing on his doorstep telling him he loved him. 

“You don’t have to say anything,” Shiro said softly, but Lance didn’t know _what_ to say. 

Lance reached out and grabbed onto Shiro’s shirt collar with both fists, pulling him in close and crashing their lips together, because there had been a reason that Lance had been so jumpy and embarrassed with all the little touches and looks. Why Shiro kissing him had made him lightheaded and forget everything else that was going on in the world, and had made him never want to stop. Because he hadn’t - didn’t - he didn’t want to ever stop. 

“That works,” Shiro said breathlessly as they parted and Lance breathed a soft laugh, resting their foreheads together. 

“I think you should go and get your things,” Lance murmured, still not letting go of his shirt collar. 

“I- what?”

“Things, now,” Lance said, pecking his lips again and pushing Shiro back out the front door. 

He watched as Shiro walked to his car with a dumb smile on his face, getting his own bags out and locking it up, bringing them back inside. Like hell if Lance was letting him drive off after that. Like hell if he wasn’t going to kiss him all damn night long.

**Author's Note:**

> comments are greatly appreciated !!!


End file.
